Tales from Pentoga

Two partridge doing a mating dance in our yard Tuesday morning

May 4, 2021 - Wednesday morning

31 degrees/clear skies/calm winds

Pentoga Road

I was awake once again before 4 this morning and lay there staring at the ceiling, thinking the most stupid thoughts. My mind loves to seize on some random mundane subject and blow it all out of proportion. When that happens, my only option is to get up. It sure makes for a long day.

I received the following from Josh yesterday. Seems as though our granddaughter, Ellie, continues to excel in school.

We're so proud of Ellie and all the awards and accolades she's garnered during her middle school years. Whether it's in the arts, scholastics, or student leadership, Ellie's been on top of it all.

Hard to believe that she will be a freshman in high school next year. Miss Ellie's growing up entirely too fast, but then, so am I.

My oldest son was no slouch himself. A graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy, Josh rose to the rank of Commander before retiring a year and a half ago. The Pennington kids, regardless of the generation, continue to make Sargie and me very proud.

This in from Wyoming. Isabella is expanding her horizons from dolls to softball this spring. I'm told she wanted to play so Mom and Dad signed her up.

From sunny California comes this picture of The Bishop, Reverend Pat. We've had several discussions on light weight sleep systems and he's been experimenting with a hammock and tarp. Pat will be heading to Alaska later this summer to hunt deer high in the alpines of the mountains surrounding Sitka. Since it can take hours to climb many of the peaks, he's interested in staying on top rather than climb down before dark only to begin the process all over early the next morning.

It appears Andy and Ivy are getting ready for a summer of camping. It's still early spring in northern Maine and Andy said the only camping they've done so far is during the day in their yard.

Closer to Pentoga Road, Tuesday was spent installing the new engine on the backhoe. At one point, I thought I'd made a major mistake in telling Mechanic Dave how to mount the hydraulic pump to the motor. He misinterpreted my explanation as saying the shaft on the motor turned counter clockwise which would result in the one way pump not working.

Having nothing to lose, I flipped the pump over, said a prayer to Baby Jesus, and after adding oil and filling the fuel tank, pulled the starter rope.

The engine roared to life on the first try. I was almost afraid to pull back one of the knobs that operates the large arm of the backhoe, but as we all know, there comes a time of reckoning in every shade tree mechanic's life. The arm lifted, moved back and forth, and the bucket opened and closed.

Maple Valley Excavating was back in business.

So finally, the backhoe is ready for a summer of work. The new engine works flawlessly and is strong enough to pump hydraulic fluid at half throttle.

There won't be much accomplished this morning as I have a dentist's appointment at noon today. Seems one of my molars is intent on splitting in two. I can already see a new crown in my future.

It's just money and everyone knows it grows on trees. The way the government hands it out, it must be true.

Sargie and I will do our running around this morning before the appointment and I plan to finish digging out those two tree stumps this afternoon. Hopefully by nightfall, they will have been hauled away, new fill brought in, and the area raked over with grass seed planted.

Hey, it's the way we roll here on Pentoga Road.

It's finally daylight and time to go for my early morning walk.